Iraq? I was at a loss for words. I had never stopped to think that servicemen and women might be reading this blog and our other Karate websites while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

My father was in the Air Force and I was raised on bases in Massachusetts (Westover), England (Greenham Common), Maine (Dow), New Jersey (McGuire), Japan (Misawa), Florida (Eglin), and Hawaii (Hickam). We lived in Florida for a year while my father was stationed in Viet Nam. I started martial arts training in Japan at Misawa AFB and continued here in Hawaii at Hickam.

Although I never served in the military myself, I deeply respect the sacrifices servicemen and women make everyday, as well as the sacrifices that their families must also make. If you are serving anywhere in the world, I send my respect and gratitude for your service to our country. If you read this blog or any of our websites, I hope that they are a little helpful to you. What you are doing is infinitely more important.

At every dinner at my house, my wife and I ask one of my four children to say the prayer. Each time, they end by asking that all of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan return home safely. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

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"Karate Jutsu" means "China Hand art". Karate came to Okinawa from China.
Only in the 1930s or so, was the term "Karate" changed to mean "Empty Hand".
"China Hand" was used in Hawaii until after World War II, and is still used in some dojo.